Born in London, Anita Davison connected with the history of that city at a young age. When the rest of the school trip were throwing the contents of their lunch boxes at each other, Anita imagined men in high white wigs, flared long coats and heeled shoes coming out of coffee houses, climbing into sedan chairs on the cobbles in Paternoster Row, where Christopher Wren was lowered down the outside of St Paul's Cathedral in a basket.

A portrait of James Scott, Duke of Monmouth at the National Portrait Gallery inspired her first novel based on his ill-fated rebellion against King James II in 1685 and became ‘The Rebel’s Daughter.’